A source of information for the People of Bikini Atoll of the Marshall Islands

Bikini Atoll a World Heritage Site? We find out this week.

Mayor Alson Kelen, along with Nicole Baker, are in Brazil this week to attend the session. The Mayor’s trip was generously funded by the Australian government (many thanks):

World Heritage Committee to meet in Brasilia to inscribe new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List

Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List when it meets for its 34th session in Brasilia (Brazil), from 25 July to 3 August.

During this year’s session – to be chaired by João Luiz Ferreira, the Brazilian Minister of Culture and President of the World Heritage Committee – 35 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention will present properties for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Three of those countries – Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tajikistan – have no properties inscribed on the World Heritage List to date.

Thirty two new properties in total were submitted for inscription on the World Heritage List this year: 6 natural, 24 cultural and 2 mixed (i.e. both natural and cultural) properties, including four transnational nominations. In addition, 9 extensions to properties already listed have been proposed (see list below).

The Committee will also review the state of conservation of the 31 World Heritage properties inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger and may decide to add to that list new properties whose preservation requires special attention. The In Danger List features sites which are threatened by a variety of problems such as pollution, urban development, poorly managed mass tourism, wars, and natural disasters, which have a negative impact on the outstanding values for which the sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List.

To date, the World Heritage List recognizes 890 properties of “outstanding universal value,” including 689 cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed properties in 148 States Parties.

The Convention encourages international cooperation to safeguard the common heritage of humanity. With 187 States Parties, it is one of the most widely ratified international legal instruments. When signing the Convention, States Parties commit to identifying sites for potential inscription and to preserving sites on the World Heritage List, as well as sites of national and regional importance, notably by providing an appropriate legal and regulatory framework.

The World Heritage Committee, responsible for the implementation of the 1972 Convention, comprises representatives of 21 countries, elected by the States Parties for up to six years. Each year, the Committee adds new sites to the List. The sites are proposed by the States Parties. Applications are then reviewed by two advisory bodies: cultural sites by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and natural sites by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which inform the Committee of their recommendations. The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ICCROM) provides expert advice on conservation and training in restoration techniques.

The World Heritage Committee also examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed sites and asks States Parties to take appropriate conservation and preservation measures when necessary. The Committee supervises the disbursement of over USD4 million annually from the World Heritage Fund, aimed, among other purposes, at emergency action, training of experts and encouraging technical cooperation. UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre is the Secretariat of the World Heritage Committee.

Accredited journalists will be able to attend the opening ceremony of the 34th session (25 July), which will include the participation of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian Ministry of culture, João Luiz Silva Ferreira and the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. Journalists will be informed of the work and decisions of the Committee in regular press conferences during the Committee session.